NEC bolsters its facial recognition technology portfolio

NEC Corporation of America (NEC), a leading technology integrator of advanced IT, networking, communications, and multimodal biometric solutions, announced that it enhanced its portfolio of industry leading biometric solutions by licensing Michigan State University's (MSU) face search system software. NEC is one of the largest providers of biometric technology to law enforcement and commercial entities. NEC's facial recognition and ancillary biometric solutions have consistently registered top ranks for accuracy by independent research organizations.

MSU's face search system can use a photo from surveillance or a crime scene to quickly retrieve a list of potential candidates by searching a large database of face images and, coupled with NEC's industry leading NeoFace facial recognition algorithm, enhancing the process of identifying the closest match.

Developed by Dr. Anil Jain, MSU distinguished professor of computer science and engineering, MSU's face search system can use a photo from surveillance or a crime scene to quickly retrieve a list of potential candidates by searching a large database of face images and, coupled with NEC's industry leading NeoFace facial recognition algorithm, enhancing the process of identifying the closest match.

"The strength of this face search system is that it can process and search so-called 'faces in the wild' unconstrained images," Jain said. Unconstrained means faces that show a large range of the variation seen in everyday life. This includes variation in pose, lighting, expression, background, race, ethnicity, age, gender, clothing, hairstyles, camera quality, color saturation, focus, and other parameters.

"The addition of the MSU large-scale face search algorithm with our industry leading NeoFace facial algorithms will lead to even more compelling solutions to address ever-increasing security threats and enhance public and national security," said Raffie Beroukhim, VP of NEC's Biometrics Solutions Division. "Our ability to accurately search a gallery of unconstrained images will only add to our continued leadership in this field."